Mention the name of Tarzan and most people think of the brawny hero of
a series of B-movies made in the '30s and '40s. Elmo Lincoln was the first
actor to portray the so-called "Ape Man" way back in 1918, a mere five
years after the publication of the first of Edgar Rice Burroughs' books!
Lincoln was followed by a succession of actors, including Johnny Weissmuller,
Buster Crabbe and Lex Barker. Each of these films showed a well-built man
in a loincloth, honorable and heroic, more comfortable in the jungle than
in society. His image was updated, and more finely drawn in later films
and television programmes. Ron Ely's TV Tarzan from 1966-67 certainly modernized
him, but kept the beefcake image. 1984's Greystoke was an attempt to be
faithful to Burroughs' books, but ultimately failed because the historical
image created by the earlier films was stronger than the impression made
by the source material.

If you have read any of the twenty-four books in the Tarzan series,
you know that Lord Greystoke was fluent in several languages: French, English
and the language of his simian family. He spent almost equal time (after
being "rescued" from the jungle) in a tuxedo as he did in the jungle. And
he never swung through the trees on vines!

Well, you do not have to read the two dozen Burroughs classics, although
I recommend that you do (they are pure entertainment); instead you can
read Philip Jose Farmer's biography of Tarzan, called Tarzan Alive.
Farmer describes Lord Greystoke in his original foreword as "a living person."
This is a biography, not of the author of the books, but of the main character.
Farmer condenses and organizes the major events of Tarzan's life into chronological
order, and makes the same kind of judgments as any biographer might. This
new edition also includes an interview with Lord Greystoke, from a meeting
"in a motel near Chicago" as well as "Extracts from the Memoirs of 'Lord
Greystoke'," which Farmer published in 1974.

Nothing can really replace a leisurely reading of the original books.
You must read at least the first three (Tarzan of the Apes, The Return
of Tarzan, The Beasts of Tarzan) to get the basic story and appreciate
the levels of cultural and philosophical questions which Burroughs dealt
with. It's a lesson in cultural bias from the Victorian Age to today! Farmer
touches on these points, but it's more enlightening to read them in the
original.

Farmer does a fine job of consolidating all the material. He leaves
the reader with a three dimensional portrait of the main characters, their
foibles, and motivations. Of course most of his time is spent on the "Ape
Man" himself, but Tarzan is the most interesting character anyway. Farmer
traces his ancestors and makes great characters of fiction into flesh and
blood relatives of the Greystoke line. Included are literary icons like
Sherlock Holmes, Doc Savage, the Scarlet Pimpernel and Nero Wolfe. What
a bloodline it was indeed!

For an introduction to one of the most resilient heroes in literature,
Tarzan
Alive is a remarkable offering. Disney is readying an all-singing,
all-swinging Tarzan for Broadway
right now. The time is right for an all out revival, and Farmer's book
is a fine place to start. But please don't finish here. Go on to read the
originals, put your modern political correctness on hold, and spend some
time with the untamed, terrible ape man himself -- Tarzan!

The old vine swinger is one of a handful of fictional characters to
rank a biography. Such books give the authors the opportunity to expound
on the characters, providing background, side stories, and updates not
offered by their creator. Farmer’s 1972 volume borrows from Edgar Rice
Burroughs but also adds to the legend by tracing Tarzan’s lineage . . .
and extends his exploits beyond the African jungle as an RAF pilot in World
War II. Great fun.”

—Library Journal, Classic Returns

“Farmer goes one step further than mere literary fun. He takes engaging
advantage of the reader’s inherent susceptibility to myth.”

—Publishers Weekly

“Tarzan is seen as a 20th-century heroic figure having much in common
with the mythical demigods of an earlier day, and this book will not fail
to please and enthrall his many followers.”

—Library Journal

“The most innovative part of the book [is] Tarzan’s family tree linking
him to every great hero in pulp literature. . . . Farmer is less well known
today than he was forty years ago. Nevertheless, Alive ages well and gives
the reader the sourcebook for so many writers today.”

—American Book Review

"Farmer does a fine job of consolidating all the material. He leaves
the reader with a three dimensional portrait of the main characters, their
foibles, and motivations. . . . For an introduction to one of the most
resilient heroes in literature, Tarzan Alive is a remarkable offering."

—Green Man Review

“This easily readable scholarly tome filled me with nostalgia for the
first time I visited Africa with Tarzan many years ago and reminded me
that, in the books, at least, Tarzan still lives.”

—Mark Graham, Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)

Cover Blurg from the Popular Library, NY, edition:Through the brilliant, exhaustive research pf Philip José Farmer,
the true, astonishing saga of Lord Greystoke — better known as Tarzan of
the Apes — can at last be told. It's all here, the fact meticulously separated
from the fiction:

A feast of knowledge for Tarzan freaks, adventure lovers, and truth
seekers everywhere.

Through the tales of Edgar Rice Burroughs, generations of readers have
thrilled to the adventures of Lord Greystoke (aka John Clayton, but better
known as Tarzan of the Apes). In this biography Philip Jose Farmer pieces
together the life of this fantastic man, correcting Burroughs's errors
and deliberate deceptions and tracing Tarzan's family tree back to other
extraordinary figures, including Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes, the Scarlet
Pimpernel, Doc Savage, Nero Wolfe, and Bulldog Drummond.

Tarzan Alive offers the first chronological account of Tarzan's
life, narrated in careful detail garnered from Burroughs's stories and
other sources. From the ill-fated voyage that led to Greystoke's birth
on the isolated African coast to his final adventures as a group captain
in the RAF during World War II, Farmer constructs a comprehensive and authoritative
account. Farmer's assertion that Tarzan was a real person has led him to
craft a biography as well researched and compelling as that of any character
from conventional history.

Philip Jose Farmer has had a long and illustrious career in scinece
fiction, winning three Hugo awards, the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement
award, and the Nebula Grand Master award.

A TARZAN CHRONOLOGYThis Lord Greystoke Chronology has been adapted from Farmer's "Addendum
5."

ONE: Out to Sea I-1 (Tarzan of the Apes)

1888, May 11 or 23

John Clayton and his pregnant wife, Alice, sail from Dover for Freetown.

TWO: The Savage Home I-2 (Tarzan of the Apes)

1888, June

The Claytons sail on the Fuwalda for an Oil Rivers port.

1888, late June

The Claytons are stranded in the jungle of French Equatorial Africa
(Gabon) by the mutineers.

THREE: Life and Death (Tarzan of the Apes: I-3)

1888, Nov. 21,
a Wednesday

A "great ape" attacks the Claytons.

1888, Nov. 22,
a Thursday

John Clayton III, the future "Lord Greystoke," is born a few minutes
after midnight.

1889, May 22,
a Wednesday

The infant John accidentally puts his inky fingers on a page of his
father's diary.

Ten-year-old Tarzan first enters his parents' cabin; he kills a mad
gorilla with his father's hunting knife

FIVE: The Difference (Tarzan of the Apes I-6,
I-7)

1898, Dec.

Tarzan begins to teach himself to read and write English

1901, Nov.

The thirteen-year-old Tarzan kills his foster father, Tublat, with
his father's knife during a Dum-Dum. He begins his lifelong friendship
with Tantor.

SIX: Loss and Revenge (Tarzan of the Apes I-8 through I-10)

1906, Nov.

The eighteen-year-old Tarzan can read and understand almost all the
books in his father's library. Mbonga's people establish a village near
the territory of Kerchak's tribe.

1906, Dec.

Kulonga, Mbonga's son, kills Kala. Tarzan kills Kulonga.

SEVEN: Growing Up (Tarzan of the Apes Part of I-11 ~ Jungle
Tales of Tarzan VI-2 through VI-4)

1907, Jan.

Tarzan finds the diary, photograph, and locket.

1907, Feb.

Tarzan falls in love with Teeka, a female great ape, and loses her
to Taug.

1907, March

Tarzan is captured by Mbonga's warriors but is rescued by Tantor.

1907, Nov.

Teeka bears a son. Tarzan kills a nameless bull managani.

1907, Dec.

Tarzan puzzles out the meaning of the word God in his father's books.
He invents an ingenious method for pronouncing the letters of the alphabet.

EIGHT: The Outsider: Dreamer and Joker (Jungle Tales of Tarzan
VI-5 through VI-12)

1908, March

Tarzan kidnaps a little black boy, Tibo, to raise as his own but compassionately
returns him to this mother.

1908, April

The horrible, but poetically just, end of Bukawai, the witch doctor.

1908, June

One of Tarzan's many trickster jokes backfires. He finds out that Manu,
his monkey friend, has courage and is mangani friends have learned the
value of cooperation.

1908, July

Tarzan eats rotten elephant meat and has a terrible nightmare. He kills
his second gorilla, unsure that he is not still dreaming. Teeka throws
Tarzan's father's cartridges against a rock, and the explosions save Tarzan's
life. Babba Kega, w ith doctor, is hoisted by his own petard (with Tarzan's
help).

1908, Aug.

"A Jungle Joke" episode. (Tarzan Rescues the Moon, being entirely fictional,
is not included in the chronology.)

NINE: Kingship and Love (Tarzan of the Apes I-11
through I-20)

1908, Aug.

Tarzan kills Kerchak and becomes "king."

1909, Late Jan

Tarzan abdicates the "kingship" and invents the full-Nelson.

1909, Feb. 2,
a Tuesday

Tarzan sees his first whites. He saves William Clayton from the mutineer
Snipes, Sheeta, and Sabor. Using a full-Nelson, he breaks the neck of Sabor
as she tries to get into the cabin after Jane.

1909, Feb. 3,
a Wednesday

Tarzan digs up the treasure buried by the mutineers and reburies it.
He steals Jane's letter to Hazel Strong.

The Greystokes in England, France, and Kenya. Tarzan takes a jungle
vacation.

1930, mid Sept. to mid Nov.

The events of Tarzan and the City of Gold.

1930, late Nov. to 1931, Jan.

Tarzan is at the Kenyan plantation.

1931, Jan. to April

Major part of Tarzan and the Lion Man (excluding the fictional
parts).

1931, June 1, a Monday
to June 11, a Thursday

The events of Tarzan and the Leopard Men.

1931, June to 1932, March

Tarzan and Jane are at Greystoke plantation or in England.

1932, April to July

Tarzan visits the United States; final "Hollywood" part of Tarzan
and the Lion Man, though the screen test for a Taran movie is fictional.

1932, Aug. to 1933, April

Jane in England and France; Tarzan in Africa

1933, May 1, a Monday,
to June 23, a Friday

The events of Tarzan's Quest.

1933, late June,
to May, 1934

Tarzan and Jane in England and Kenya.

1934, June 1, a Friday,
to Sept. 7, a Friday

The events of Tarzan the Magnificent.

1934, Sept.,
to Sept. 1938

Tarzan, Jane, and grandson on a round-the-world trip in 1935. In 1937
and 1938, he is in Africa with several jungle vacations between his plantation
duties.

1938, Sept. 7, a Wednesday,
to Sept. 29, a Thursday

The events of Tarzan and the Jungle Murders. (There is no chronology
for Tarzan and the Champion, since this is entirely fictional.)

1938, Oct., to May, 1939

Tarzan and Jane in East Africa.

1939, June 1, a Thursday,
to June 25, a Sunday

The events of Tarzan and the Madman.

1939, July

Tarzan loses his memory in an accident while returning home from Abyssinia.
He wanders around in the jungles of Mt. Elgon.

1939, Aug. to Oct.

The (non-Mayan) events of Tarzan and the Castaways.

1939, Nov.

Tarzan returns to Kenya, says good-bye to Jane (who follows him to
England later), and joins the R.A.F. in London

1939, Dec.,
to Oct., 1942

Tarzan, as John Clayton, flies bombers. He submerges his apeman persona
deep within himself. Esmeralda is killed by a bomb in London. Tarzan is
promoted to group captain. Lord Tennington is killed in the North Sea.

1942, Nov.

Tarzan is transferred to the Far East theatre.

1942, Nov. 3

Tarzan's son, John Paul, marries.

1943, Nov. 24

John Paul's son, John, born

1944, Jan. to Feb.

Attached to the U.S.A.A.F. as an observer for the British

1944, March 13, a Monday,
to Dec. 7, a Thursday

The events of Tarzan and the Foreign Legion.

1945, May 1

John Armand, Korak's son, marries.

1944, dec. to Feb. 1946

Flies over Burma, China, and with the U.S.A.A.F. over Japan as an observer.
Discharged in London.